By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, May 9, 2024
Naomi Osaka is fueled by a main mission for this clay season: No regrets.
Osaka powered past Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-2 and shared her mission statement for clay season.
The former world No. 1 aims to play on her terms and focus on finishing her shots with conviction.
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“I kind of thought to myself, like, I don’t want to have regrets when I leave the court,” Osaka told the media in Rome. “In Madrid I did kind of have regrets of not swinging fully. Focusing on that a lot, yeah.”
Osaka set up a Rome second-round clash vs. 10th-seeded Daria Kasatkina in a rematch of their 2018 Indian Wells final.
To prepare for Rome and Roland Garros, Osaka trained on Mallorca, home of Rafael Nadal, and said she watched video of Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Madrid champion Andrey Rublev to inspire her own dirt game.
“I went to Mallorca. Honestly, I did a really solid block of just focusing on what I want my clay court tennis to look like,” Osaka said. “I watched some videos. I watched Rafa. I watched Alcaraz.
“I watched Rublev actually which is very inspiring because he’s smacking the ball.”
Photo credit: Getty
